San Antonio dish steals the show in Austin

By Jennifer McInnis / jmcinnis@express-news.net

Published 2:08 am, Friday, April 1, 2011

Photo: Tom Reel

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John Besh, with fellow chefs Jason Dady (left) and Steve McHugh watching, applies the finishing touch to a sample of fried quail, which he drizzled with orange blossom honey and served with Louisiana crawfish boil potato salad.

John Besh, with fellow chefs Jason Dady (left) and Steve McHugh watching, applies the finishing touch to a sample of fried quail, which he drizzled with orange blossom honey and served with Louisiana crawfish

AUSTIN — Chef, author and part-time San Antonian John Besh was the highlight of the Stars Across Texas Classic that kicked off the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival on Thursday night at the Long Center.

An estimated 500 people attended, and all of them seemed to be in line to see Besh. Alongside Lüke San Antonio chef Steve McHugh, he served fried Texas quail drizzled with orange blossom honey and served with a side of Louisiana crawfish boil potato salad.

When people asked where the food was from, he proudly announced, “San Antonio.” Besh, who opened Lüke San Antonio earlier this year, turned a few seconds later and said, “I’m proud of San Antonio. I love San Antonio.”

He recalled how a friend from San Antonio, Jack Guenther, was quick to support his hometown of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Besh showed his gratitude by opening Lüke when Guenther developed his downtown San Antonio property.

“When everyone was packing up and leaving, these people really stepped in and did the right thing,” Besh says of Guenther’s decision to invest in New Orleans by opening a hotel and asking

It was an interesting dynamic to hear Besh boasting about San Antonio against the backdrop of the Austin skyline.

Several stations down, the team of chef and restaurateur Jason Dady, who owns Bin 555, The Lodge, Tre Trattoria and Two Bros. BBQ in the San Antonio area, was serving diver sea scallop crudo with uni butter sweet corn, basil and husk ash.

“I came up with a dish that was sexy and luxurious,” he said. “You have one bite to impress 500 people.”

It was his ninth year participating in the event, which he said has become one of the top food festivals nationwide.

“I look at it as a way to also market San Antonio,” Dady said.

Barman Olaf Harmel from Mon Ami in Alamo Heights participated in the Makers Mark cocktail competition, which represented the winners from regional competitions in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Houston. Each of them prepared a variation of a Collins cocktail.